Making a case for books instead of e-readers

iTHINK

The Kindle 3 and other e-readers are gaining in popularity over traditional… (Contributed photo )

March 24, 2011

My research for this iThink took on a more humorous stance than I thought it would. Losing the wonderful gift of literature in book form was such a horrific idea until I looked for statistics on the decline and amount of "old-school readers" still out there with their heads stuck between the front and back covers of their favorite books.

That is when I discovered a book, "Reading: The Lost Art," with the message in bold type — "now available as an e-book" — next to it.

Ironic.

I can hardly imagine replacing the look of black type against off-white paper with reading type on a screen. It is less aesthetically pleasing. While we achieve more convenience with an e-reader, is it truly worth it?

The tradition of reading a nighttime story to your child will be altered, if not abandoned, by these technological intruders' takeover of Dr. Seuss and other classics. No more will your children be able to run their tiny, curious fingers across the pages as they hear each word pronounced.

Being from the tech-savvy generation, it's almost expected of me to take advantage of the overwhelming electronics that flood the market. But at what point do we say it is too much? When we are practically blinding ourselves by the constant screen time? We should use technology as a tool, but we shouldn't replace everything just because we can.

Books should be no different. Why put a book to waste because of an up-and-coming electronic book market with products that are obsolete in a matter of months?

Books are the epitome of reliability, like man's best friend. Books won't ever have an error screen, won't "die" because the battery was used up, and won't have constant glitches in its operating system — unlike its robotic counterpart that has the potential of losing your information, breaking, and unexpectedly freezing up from an overload of information.

By giving into the pressure of the next best thing, it is more than just losing a book. It's about the nostalgia that radiates from books indefinitely. It's about the joy that penetrates your internal being when you share a fairy tale with your children. It's about the comfort in turning the wrinkled, musty pages and feeling the characters come alive beneath your fingers. It's about the trust that you gain out of knowing your book is ready to read any time and anywhere.

Books should be an undying breed. They are classic and should hold a special place in everyone's heart.